Driving car-lighting dynamos.



P. KENNEDY.

DRIVING CAR LIGHTING DYNAMOS. APPLIGATI ON FILED 0017 1909.

1,031,651 Patented July 2, 1912.

' INVENTOR mmssgs:

a ATTORNEYS P. KENNEDY. DRIVING GAR LIGHTING DYNAMOS.

APPLICATION FILED ocTfv, 1909.

Patented July 2, 1912.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

BY w r,

ATTDRNEYS PATRICK KENNEDY,

OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

DRIVING CAR-LIGHTING DYNAMOS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed October 7, 1909. Serial No. 521,467.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, PA'rIuoK KENNEDY, acitizen of the United States, residing at New York, in the county andState of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inDriving Car-Lighting Dynamos; and I do hereby declare the fol-' lowingto .bea full, clear, and exact descrl tion. of the invention, such aswill enab e others skilled in, the art to which it appertains to makeand use the same.

Car-lighting dynamos have heretofore been supported inside thecross-beams of the truck frame, or, as an alternative, from the underbody of the car. The first mode of; suspension is unsatisfactory byreason of the inaccessibility of the parts, and the limited spaceavailable, and articularly by reason of the fact that tie dynamo isbrought so close to the axle from'which it is driven as to practicallyprevent a successful belt drive. A second mode of suspension isunsatisfactory because in turning curves the car-body moves angularlyWith respect to the truck in a. horizontal plane, and tips in a verticalplane, thereby disturbing the driving connection betweenthe axle of thetruck and the shaft of the dynamo. To obviate these defects the outsidesuspension was developed, in which the dynamo is mounted in a cradlesupported wholly from,

dynamo,by placing the whole Weight of the? and outside of, the end crossbeanrof the truck. Vith this mode-of suspension the dynamo moves as thetruck moves, to maintain the necessary parallelism and the driving beltis lengthened, but such suspension has the objectionable feature thatthe dynamo and its suspending mechanism must be crowded into-a verticalspace which is limited on the one hand by the necessity for raising it asuitable distance above the track, and on the other hand, by the neces-'sity for keeping the highest point of the dynamo far enough below theunderbody of the car to avoid the striking of the dynamo or its supportagainst the underbody upon the vertical movement of the underbody whichoccurs upon coupling the cars and upon starting and stopping the train,etc. This difficulty imposes marked limitations on otherwise desirablefeatures of support,

necessitates the placing of the dynamo very close to the 'end cross-beam.of the truck, and hunts the possible size of the dynamo. Furthermore,the outside suspension of the dynamo on an extension from one end of'thetruck, has a tendency to overbalance the truck at that end. In someinstances counterweights have been placed on the opposite end of thetruck to rest-ore the balance.

The object of the present invention is to overcome these objectionswhile retaining all the advantages of the outside suspension, and tothis end I propose to mount the dynamo in acradle or-othersuitablesupport, herein broadly termed suspension, which is swung orhinged at one end to the end crossbeam of the truck so as to bepivotally supported therefrom in such manner as to permit free verticalmovement of the other end and at the same time cause the dynamo to moveas the truck moves to ,maintain the parallelism of the driving axleandthe dynamo shaft; the other or free end of the dynamo suspension beingbut in such manner that the angular movement of the suspension as itmoves with the truck is not restrained; and preferably in take of thetipping movement of the car body. In this manner the weight of thedynamo and its suspension is divided be-- tween the truck and thecar-body, and the dynamo part-akes at once of the angular movement ofthe truck and the vertical movement of the car-body, so that parallelismof the driving axle and the dynamo shaft is maintained as in theordinary susthe underbody of the car is prevented. The driving belt isused as'in ordinary practice, though its length may be increased byspac- Iiong the dynamo farther from the end crosseam.

nal section through the end of a truck and car-body underframe, showingthe dynamo and its suspension pivotally supported from of the invention;Fi 2 is a front elevation shows in detail, on a larger scale, theconnection of a belt-tensioning lever to the dynamo, and Fig. 5 showsthe rest for supporting the cradle when it is freed from its support onthe underframe of the car.

The suspension for the dynamo A is here illustrated as a cradle made upof two U- ';shaped hangers a swung or hinged at their hung from theunderbody of the car and partaking of the vertical movement thereof,

such manner that the dynamo does not parv In the drawings Figure l is alongitudi-.

- Patented July 2, 1912.

pension, and striking of the dynamo against the truck and under-frame inembodiment and Fig. 3 aplan 0 the same parts, Fig. 4

1&5

inner ends on a cross-rod Z) supported in brackets on the end crossbeamof the truck, and tied together; at their outer ends by a cross-bar dand intermediatelyby straps d. The cross-bar d carriesastout'pinorbolteo'n which is mounted a roller f traveling on and supported by aguideway on the underframe of the car-body, which guideway isconstructed to permit the rol er to travel in the arc of a circle whosecen er lies in the king bolt or pivotal center of'the truck axle, andcomprises an upper confining plate or rail 9 and a lower confining plateor rail 71 sup- I ported on the underframe of the 'ear and spaced apartto receive without binding the roller f.- In the present instance theupper confining plate 9 is shown as bolted to the center sills of astandard type of steel car 'in which the ends" of the center sills aredeepened so that their lower flangesdip to- -wardthe track,necessitating the insertionof a wedge-shaped block i to level the upperconfining plate g, but it will, of course, be understood that theinvention is equally applicable to any other type of car. The lowerconfining plate It, in the particular construction illustrated, takesthe form of an arc-' shaped channel-iron, and is hung from the 'upperconfining plate g by'hangers k, as

shown in Fig. 3-. In the cradle so constructed and mounted the dynamo Ais pivotally supported by cross-rod Z, and is elas tically pulled orswung against the tension of the driving connection by the tensioningspring on acting on the free-end of tension ing lever n, in a mannervwhich isnow well known and needs no further description. The drivingbelt 0 and driving pulleys and g, on the truck axle and dynamo sha trespectively, constitute the means commonly employed for driving thedynamo from the truck axle, and as usual the shaft ZEwhich carries thedynamo is mounted in blocks 1" ,resting onv hangers a and held in setposition by set screws 8, whereby the 'alinement of the dynamo shaftwith the truck axle may be readily effected. It will be observed thattensioni'ng spring m, in addition to its ordinary function serves anadditional important fun'ction'in that when the cradle swings on itsshaft '6 this swinging move -ment combines with the swing of thedysupporting roller were used, provided the p two or more rollers wereconnected to a common yoke or frame, and the yoke or-frame.

swiveled to cross-bar d. While I consider a swivel connection betweenthe outer end of the cradle and the underframe of the car an importantfeature. of myinvention, and use it with great-advantage in practice;yet it is not in every case essential to a successful embodiment of thatcharacteristic feature of the invention which resides in the swinging orhinging of the dynamo suspension at one end to the truck so as to bepivotally supported therefrom ewhile its other end issupported from theoar-body by a connection permitting a radial swing.

It is important in constructions of the character herein described, toso arrange the dynamo that it does not interfere with the quick removalof the truck. To this end 'I have provided on the truck a'SuppOrtingrest for the 'eradle, to which it may be dropped when its outer end 'isfreed from the support on the underframe of the car, and by. which thedynamo is held above the track. In the preferred construction shown thebrackets a carry a cros -bar 0 against which the truck endrof the cradlewill rest when it drops free of the car support, the dynamo beingthereby supported wholly from the truck during removal and replacementthereof. It will be'understood that when thetruck is to be removedthelower supporting rail h is removed, allowing the dynamo and cradle todrop free of the car support and rest o-n the cross-bar ,0. When thetruck is replaced the outer end'of the,

cradle can be raised to the proper position and held there by placingblocks between the cradle and cross-bar 0 until the supporting rail h issecured in place again. In the accompanying drawings and the foregoingdescription I- have illustrated and fully described the principle of myinven tion and the best embodiment thereof now-- known to me, and Ishall now particularly point out, in the following claims, what Ibelieve to be my invention, first remarking ,that so far as I am aware Iam the first to mount a train lighting dynamo driven from the truck axlein a cradle or any other suspension, hung at one end by a hingeconnection to the truck, so as to'be pivotally supioa portedtherefromand at the'other end, by a connection permitting a radial swing, to theunder-frame of the car; whereby the dynamo partakes at once of theangular movement of the truck-and the vertical movement of the car-body.

-' What I claim is a 1 In a construction for driving a carlightingdynamo from atruck axle, a dynamo suspension pivotally supported at oneend from the truck and supported at the other end from the car-body by aconnection tially as'descri d.

other end by a su port guide in a guidedriving anguiar movement of thetruck partake of the ti of the truck and the vertical movement of shaftof the dynamo, a

4. In azconstruction for driving a carermitting a radial sw' g, a pulleyon the shaft of the dynamo, a d 'ivin' pulley on the axle of the truck,and a driving connection. extending from the driving.., pulley to thepulley on the dynamo shaft, whereby the dynamo partakes of the angularmovement the car-body; substantially as described.

2. In a construction for driving a carlighting dynamo from a truck axle,a dy namo suspension pivotally supported at one end from the truck, andsup orted at the way on the under rame ofthe car and permitting a.radial-. swingjof that end of the cradle when the car rounds a curve,and a swiveling movement ofthe underframe with respect to thedynamosuspension when the car tips, a pulley. on the shaft'of the dynamo, adriving-pulley on the axle of the truck,

and a 'dllVlIlg connection extending from the]' ulley to the pulley onthe dynamo" ereby the dynamo partakes of the and the ver-v ticalmovement of the car-body, but does not ping movement of the car-, ody;substantia 1y as described.

.3. In a construction for driving a carlighting dynamofrom a truck axle,a dynamo suspension pivotally supported at one end from the truck andsupported at the other end from the car bodv by a connection permittinga radial swing, a pulley on the driving pulley on the truck axle, adriving connection extending from the driving pulley to thepulley on thedynamo shaft, and mechanism for causing the dynamo shaft w to swingabout the longitudinal axis ofthe truck axle as a center when the dynamosuspension swings on its pivot in response to vertical movement of thecarbody; substantially as described. lighting dynamo from a truck axle,a dynamo suspension pivotally supported at one end from the truck, aroller secured to-the other end of the dynamo-support, a guideway forthe roller supported from the underframe of the car and permitting theroller to move in the are of a circle having the ivotal center of theti'pck for its center, a ulley on the shaft of the dynamo, a drivmgpulley on the truck axle, and a driving connection between the drivingpulley and the pulley on the dynamo shaft; substan- 5. In a constructionfor-driving a car underframe of the car, roller to move in a circlehaving the pivotal "center of the truck lighting dynumofrom a truckaxle,asuspension in whichv the dynamo is pivotally mounted. and which ispivotally supported at one end from the truck and is supporte at theother end from the car body by a connection permitting a radial swing, apulley on the dynamo shaft, a driving pulley on the truck axle, adriving connection extending from the driving pulley to the pulley onthedynamo shaft, and a tensioning spring, connected to swing the dynamo onthe pivot in its suspension against the pull of the driving connection;'substantially as described. f

6. In a construction for driving acarlighting dynamo from a pension inwhich the dynamo is pivotally mounted and which is pivotallysupported atone end from the truck, a roller secured to the other end of thedynamo-support, a guideway for the roller supported from the andpermitting the p for its center, a pulley on the shaft of the dynamo, adriving pulley on the truck axle, a driving connection between thedriving pulley and the pulley on the dynamo-shaft, and a tensioningspring connected to swing the dynamo on the pivot in its suspensionagainst the pull of the driving connection; substantially 'as described.

7 In a construction for driving a train lighting dynamo from a car axle,a dynamo suspension pivotally supported at one end from the trucktandsupported at the other end from the car-body, in combination witha'supporting rest on the truck on whichthe dynamo-suspension drops whenfreed from its support on the car-body, dynamo is supported wholly fromthe truck during removal and replacement thereof; substantially asdescribe 8. In a construction for driving a train lighting dynamo from acar axle, a dynamo suspension hinged atone end to the outer cross-beamof the truck and supported at the other-end from the gar-body, incombination with a cross-bar on the truck below the hinge and againstwhich the truck end of the suspension swings when the outer end is freedfrom support on the car-body, whereby the dynamo is supported whollyfrom'the truck during removal and replacement thereof; substantially asdescribed.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature,

in presence of two witnesses.

PATRICK KENNEDY.

Witnesses AUG: TnnAownLL, WALTER E. GREEN.

whereby the

